“Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you,” she promised, taking his hand and leading him off the plane.
Gavin learned one thing on the car ride from the airport to their final destination: he didn’t like being blindfolded, at least not in a car that was moving. Thankfully the ride was short, and in no time Leah was telling him to sit tight until she came around to the passenger side of the car.
The smell of the ocean and crashing waves gave him his first good clue of the evening.
“You have one step here,” she told him before she released his hand.
He heard a series of short beeps, and he guessed she was putting in a code to unlock a door.
She slipped her hand into his again and they moved forward, the sound of the ocean disappearing.
“Did you have enough time to get everything done?” Leah stopped and spoke to someone.
“I came by and set everything up earlier, so it didn’t take me long to finish once I received your text.”
“Excellent. Thank you.”
“Would you like me to return in the morning to prepare breakfast?”
“No, we’ll be fine. Enjoy the rest of your night,” Leah replied.
Whoever she’d enlisted to help walked away, their footsteps gradually receding.
What are you up to? If Leah had sent any text messages, she’d done it after blindfolding him.
“You only need to leave the blindfold on for a little longer,” she said, resuming their trip.
Fresh air again washed over his face, and Gavin took in a deep breath of ocean air. “I need to spend more time at the beach,” he said.
“We’ll work on it. For now, have a seat and I’ll be right back. Do. Not. Peek.”
Yeah, right. “Whatever you say.”
He waited until he could no longer hear her footsteps and reached for the material covering his eyes. She’d left him in an outdoor living room. To the left of him stood a large fireplace. At the moment it was empty, but on a cool evening it would be just the thing to keep the home’s owners comfortable. The sofas were arranged in such a way that regardless of where you sat, you’d get a great view of the ocean, and fans hung from the ceiling. A bottle of wine sat chilling on the end table closest to where she’d left him, and whoever left the wine had also lit candles.
Before she came back and caught him, Gavin pulled the blindfold back down, because under no circumstances did he want to ruin whatever surprise she had planned.
He just lowered his hands back to his lap when she said, “I hope you didn’t peek.”
“Of course not.” Gavin tried to reach for her, but she pushed his hands away. Reaching behind him, she untied the material over his eyes and let it drop to the ground.
And he almost followed.
The barely there lingerie she’d changed into revealed far more than it covered. She’d taken the braid out of her hair and left it loose around her shoulders. The slight breeze coming off the water made the flames on the candles dance, casting light across her sun-kissed skin.
Leah straddled his lap and smiled. “Welcome to Martha’s Vineyard. I hope you enjoy the visit.” She didn’t give him a chance to reply.
Chapter Nine
They hadn’t spent a weekend apart since the Fourth. In fact, since the evening he cooked Leah dinner almost two weeks ago, they’d only spent three nights apart. Most of the time she went to his place, but occasionally Gavin drove to her home in Connecticut after work instead. That had been the case last night, and when he left Leah’s house this morning, she woke up long enough to ask him to call her once he got settled at his hotel.
Traveling around the country for work had never bothered him too much unless it interfered with seeing his daughter. All week though, he’d dreaded this trip. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been any way around it. The only upside to the trip was he’d get a chance to see his sister. Vivian had invited him to stay with her rather than at a hotel, and while he appreciated the offer and would’ve normally accepted, he knew he’d get more done if he was able to return to an empty room each night, and he needed to make sure he stayed on top of all his projects while away.
In another week, Erin would be with him, and he intended to spend very little time worrying about anything other than enjoying their time together. Which was why, after checking into his hotel a few hours ago, he’d called Leah and then got right down to work. But with everything prepared for his meeting tomorrow, he could call it a day. He hadn’t seen his twin sister in months, and he planned to spend the rest of the evening with her.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Vivian said, giving him a hug before he managed to enter the house. “I’ve missed you.”
He returned the embrace and kissed her cheek before stepping inside and closing the door. “I’ve missed you too.”